The Total Abstainer

An elderly woman (about 70) looks back over a life of tea-drinking and tea-serving. She herself has abstained from the brew for more than 40 years, claiming it makes her "drunk as a skunk.O She reminisces about growing up in Whittier, California, where her father was a reporter. She recalls first drinking tea between the ages of 5 and 11 at lunch with her family. The children were given cambric tea, a mixture made largely of milk. Her grandmother, an Irishwoman, claimed that the finest quality of tea was kept in China, the second was sent to Ireland, and the worst quality was shipped to the British. The author also discusses Afternoon Tea, which she was often called upon to make. She reminisces at great length on different shapes and kinds of cups. Finally she tells us why she ceased to drink a liquid she obviously loved. In 1942 she spent a night with two friends who were broke. They drank tea for three hours. Then the author attempted to drive. Everything seemed distorted. Dogs were as large as trucks. She waited out the tannic fog and never drank tea again.